Slow but steady as you go - The real Mars robots Spirit and Opportunity have logged over 10 miles so far trudging across the Red Planet for over three years

Robots used in education are becoming increasingly popular.

Even some elementary school students are taking part in robot clubs in which students learn about robots and the likes.

Of course, it's not just about getting to know robots, but they also can be used to directly teach the students.

This can be especially helpful with larger classrooms, and it's also shown to be helpful with autistic students as well. There has been a trial in a Birmingham school in which Max and Ben, two robots, have been teaching autistic students.

This is one of the first times a school in the UK has done this.

Since robots do not show emotion, the autistic children can relate to them more because there is no threat.

Sometimes autistic children have a hard time reading emotion or coping with emotions in the same way. This can be stressful on both the students and the teachers.

Will Robots eventually replace human workers - The Future Role Of Robots In Employment

Plenty of science fiction movies depict robots taking over the world. Robots are actually taking over a very important aspect of our lives: the workplace. Keep reading to learn more about the role of robots in employment.

Using robots means lowering the risks of committing errors. In fields were a small mistake could have catastrophic results, it is obvious that robots will eventually replace human workers. This is already happening in the medical field. Robots are being used to perform very precise surgeries, for instance eye laser surgery. Researchers are currently working on developing robots that can fill out prescriptions and some of these prototypes are already being used in a few pharmacies.

The increasing role of robots in employment is closely tied to the industrial field. Robots first appeared in the industrial field as a way to reduce human errors and cut down on costs. Factories can produce more goods, reduce the number of flawed products and save money by hiring an engineer who can oversee several robots instead of having human workers operate machines. As robots become more sophisticated, they will progressively replace a larger number of human workers in factories.

Self service machines should become a lot more popular over the next few years. The success of the ATM machine is only the beginning. More supermarkets now have automated check outs and engineers are working on developing many more robots designed to replace human workers. In the future, you should be able to receive a wide number of services without interacting with human employees.

Robotic cars should allow for a breakthrough in the world of transportation. Different companies are currently working on developing their own self-driving vehicles. This could open the door for automated public transportation or even self-driving taxis. Robotic cars are far from being perfect and we should not see this innovation on the roads for at least a decade.

The role of robots in employment will also include response to disasters. While it is difficult for rescuers to reach certain areas, robots can easily navigate on any terrain. Robots designed to rescue victims of natural disasters have actually been successfully tested in Japan. Similar machines are being developed by different armies around the world to assist soldiers or inspect terrains.

Robots are being used in the world of entertainment. The Big Ten Network is already using robots to generate coverage for baseball and softball coverage to save money. As these robots become more performing, they might be used to generate even more coverage for different networks.

As you can see, robots have already started taking over several fields. Human workers are still very hard to replace in certain fields and using more robots in the workplace should actually create new jobs since these machines will have to be programmed and maintained. You should stay up to date with the latest scientific innovations to get a better idea of how robots will transform the workplace in the near future.

Engineers have made a robot which mimics the movements of the earthworm. The technology will be used to make machines squeeze through tight spaces.

At the Ford car manufacturers, a robot named RUTH pokes and prods new models to see if they’re up to the standards that customers expect and also gives engineers the technical information needed to put that into the final product of the vehicle.

Furby is Back.The 1998's gremlin-like robot, Furby, is back with a mind of its own
and apparently with new technology that makes the toy develop one of several personalities base on how it is treated.
The 2012 Furby comes with LED eyes and its very own iOS phone app. It could be a big seller for Xmas.

Robotic Carts Keeping your houseplants in the sunlight all dayDo you have green fingers? All plants need both water and sunlight to grow, but finding a nice sunny spot in most homes changes throughout the day and year.
A Belgian sculptor called Stephen Verstraete has come up with the perfect solution, by putting his houseplants on robotic carts that automatically seek out the sun as it moves around the house.
Although not in the shops yet to purchase, maybe a commercial manufacture will produce something similar to this in the future.
Stephen Verstraete get a patent out on your design.

Transformers 4 To Feature New Robots...Hasbro,one of the largest toy makers in the world, has confirmed that its next movie is designed wholly for the purpose of selling more toy robots.

Underwater robots to repair Scotland's coral reefsCoralbots are saving our coral reefs off the west coast of Scotland - or should I say they will be soon once the bots have been developed at Heriot-Watt University in Scotland.
The bots are designed to work in groups, in a similar manner to bees and hopefully the first mission will be within a year.
The bots will descend further into the depth of the sea than humans can go to re-cement broken fragments helping them to repair and re-grow.

An autonomous car is a vehicle capable of driving without human operation/intervention - which makes me think, when will robots be actually driving us to work. However it wont be the technology that will be the biggest hurdle - but rather the legal issues. What if there was an accident, you wouldnt sue the autonomous - there is much to consider of the legal obstacles.

Robots - they grow up so fast. First, all they want is to be tethered and have roboticists and engineers put them together and tighten their screws. These days, robots are behaving like rebellious teenagers. They might as well being saying Leave me alone, I can assemble myself. news.discovery.com

A robot is a machine (mechanical device) that is capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically.
A machine that has been programmed to do something.

Robots today are being designed specifically to work with the disabled and vulnerable people, but also used for many more tasks that is transforming our world we live in (and beyond).

With the latest advances in brushless motor technology and control, along with new materials and mechanics offering almost unlimited strength, this makes the possibilites endless. But what makes modern robots really special is the brain - the computer of the robot, the key element in automation.

It truly is an exciting time for robotics. Transforming Our World...

Keeping our military safe, manufacturing cars, cleaning the floors, assisting in patient and elderly care, exploring in the very deep depths of the oceans and even patrolling our skies above. Thats robots for you.

Also to manage and monitor the elderly and chronically ill, this is one of the areas that robots become most useful,
definitely playing a key role in the medical field.

Robots used in healthcare are providing amazing and lasting results. Along with PUMA 560, one of the other earlier robotic systems was the Da Vinci robotic surgical system, which was introduced in 2000. Rather than make the traditional surgical incision, the Da Vinci system makes smaller "cuts" in the skin and enters the surgical area with smaller probes, guided by a three dimensional camera. The precision and accuracy of the procedure is remarkable.

What was once relegated to the realms of comic books and science fiction has in recent years become a reality. Robots take many forms, but basically a robot is any machine that operates automatically, and replaces human exertion.

It was the Czechs that gave us the word robot. Their word robota means a "forced laborer".

We often think of robots in a human form, such as the kind popularized in films like iRobot, Bicentennial Man, THX 1138, Terminator, and AI. There are even real life examples of humanlike robots, such as Honda's ASIMO.

These kinds of robots are more specifically known as androids. But robots, as mentioned, can take many forms. One such industry that has been using robots in its manufacturing process is the automotive industry.
The robots employed in this industry look like giant mechanical arms, and perform such tasks as welding and painting.

What about robots in the future? Will they be as common a tool as cars or planes? Time will tell, but as it stands now, things point in that direction. Experts believe that by the year 2020, robots will be more common, and able to be programmed to conduct routine house chores. Furthermore, it is thought that by 2030, robots will be advanced to the point where they will have some learning capabilities, and will not have to have everything programmed.

By 2040, it is even suggested that robots will have "minds" and learning abilities equivalent to that of a monkey, learning mostly through collecting information about the world around them and imitating it, just as a monkey would.

However, it is still very early to know for sure if this kind of intelligence level can be achieved. Such an approach seems to be the most progressive way, though, in that programmers do not have to program every task, how to react to every conceivable scenario.

Such a task would be impossible and crudely ineffective, but programming to collect and react to events, programming to ability to learn is where robots will become infinitely more versatile.

Perhaps boldest of all, researchers believe that by 2050 and beyond, robots will have achieved an intellect similar to that of humans. This of course remains to be seen, but in the coming decade, we will see robots performing more tasks such as performing surgery, farming, helping out around the home (like Rosie from The Jetsons), caring for the elderly, fighting wars, working in factories, and working in construction.

Really, the possibilities are endless at the moment, but the technology is not quite advanced enough to actually animate the robots to do exactly what their human creators envisage at the moment.

Of course, on the other side of the fence, there are those who believe that robotics will never match humans, or even animals in function and thinking ability.

Indeed, even the common houseflies "processing system" makes more connections than that of the household computer. Other limitations on the future of robotics include the cost of materials, and the cost of the projects. Funding will depend on many factors, but could potentially hamstring the future of robots due to the field's immense expenses.

Again, only the passage of time will reveal what will become of robots. We can just hope that they don't go off the rails like HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey. We've already got enough humans doing that.

The Development Of Military RobotsFor those of us who love science fiction, when we think of military robots it is more than likely that The Terminator springs to mind, the ultimate killing machine sent back from the future to kill. The Terminator was a cyborg designed to look like and behave like a human which does seem very far-fetched doesn't it? Well not really, since the film was made back in 1984 technology has advanced so quickly we now have artificial limbs that respond to brain signals, artificial intelligence has improved allowing a certain amount of autonomy and along with many more advances.

It is quite obvious that all of these developments would in some way end up having some kind of function in the armed forces and so it has proven with the technology allowing a the development of numerous military robots. The US has poured billions of dollars into research and development over the last few decades, and the days of imagining wars being fought by automated weapons are long gone as it has now become a reality.

One of the first kinds of robot the military used was for handling and diffusing bombs. These have proven themselves again and again by saving many human lives, which is the whole point of using robots. They have been used in places like Northern Ireland, Iraq, and Afghanistan and even on US soil to examine suspect packages. These devices are controlled by a human and are now used by most armed forces around the world.

Many more advanced military robots have been designed with many of them already in active service with many more in the testing stage. To give you an idea of a few that have already seen active combat I have described a few of them below.

General Atomics MQ-1 PredatorFirst flown in 1994 by the United States Air Force and Central Intelligence Agency, the Predator was designed with cameras and sensors for gathering intelligence. However it was soon upgraded to carry AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, as well as a number of other weapons. This was the first unmanned combat plane used in combat in countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Bosnia.

General Atomics RQ-9 Predator B
In 2007 the next generation Predator was involved in combat and this version is much bigger than the MQ-1, carries around 15x more ordinances, flies much faster, and has a certain amount of autonomy allowing the pilots on the ground to get on with other things. These have been so successful that a US Fighter Wing has now stopped using F-16's and have switched solely to the Predator.

Foster-Miller TALON
A pilot fighting from the air has generally been safer than being a combat troop on the ground, so it is no surprise to see technology being designed for ground use. This robot is radio controlled and can work up to a distance of a kilometer. It is built to manage most conditions such as ice, water, and even stairs. The controller can view the robots environment in black and white, color, night vision and infra-red, and can also be setup with a listening device.

The main use for the TALON though is to take the place of an armed combat troop, so it can be fitted with a number of different weapons depending on the environment and potential targets. It can carry weapons such as a grenade launcher, M240 machine gun, and a M16 rifle. It has already seen combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.

All of these military robots are designed for one thing and that is to save the lives of those who control them, and so far they have proven to do just that. With many more in development the front line of warfare will continue to change.

The Role Of Robots In Space Exploration

For many years, the popular image of the space program has been dominated by the exploits of astronauts.

When we think about exploring outer space, the first thing that comes to mind is a man or woman in a spacesuit strapped into a rocket ship.

However, within the last few decades, there has been a significant shift in the space program away from manned missions and towards the use of robots in space exploration. More and more space missions are unmanned. Instead of having to spend a lot of time and money launching people into space, NASA and other space agencies can save resources by launching robotic probes to other planets and other parts of the solar system.

Some of the earliest uses of robots in space exploration were the Viking landers that NASA sent to Mars in the 1970s. These landers were unable to move around the surface of the planet, but they were equipped with a number of probes and sensors that could be used to explore the nearby surface of Mars. Several experiments were run in an attempt to find signs of life on the Red Planet, but the results were inconclusive.

Since the 1970s, several more robotic missions have been sent to Mars. These involved rovers that, unlike the Viking landers, were not restricted to a single point on the surface. Instead, they were able to drive around Mars and examine different areas. While their speed and their range were limited, they were able to provide a great deal of information about the history of our sister planet.

The twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity, for example, landed on Mars in January of 2004. Originally, the rovers were only built to last for 90 days on the Martian surface. However, they have proven to be far more robust than was thought, and their missions have been repeatedly extended. They have made important scientific discoveries, such as evidence of running water on the surface of Mars.

The larger and more complex rover Curiosity recently joined Spirit and Opportunity on Mars.

Curiosity is larger and more mobile, and carries a wide array of scientific instruments that are designed to explore the geology of Mars. Curiosity landed without incident in August of 2012, and has already made important discoveries.

Mars is not the only planet to be explored by robotic probes, however. NASA has launched numerous missions to the outer planets, such as the Voyager program.

These two probes, launched in the 1970s, were intended to explore Jupiter and Saturn. Currently, Voyager 1 is getting close to leaving the solar system, making it the furthest-flung manmade object in the universe. Other programs that have explored the outer planets include the Cassini-Huygens probe, which has been studying Saturn and its moons since 2004, and the Galileo mission, which reached Jupiter in 1995.

Clearly, NASA believes that the future belongs with robots in space exploration. With these amazing machines, we can learn far more about our solar system and the universe than ever before.

The History of Robots On The Big Screen

Robots have captivated the attention of the movie-going public since the earliest days of motion picture cinema.

From the robot Maria in the classic silent film Metropolis to R2D2 and C-3PO from the Star Wars saga, futuristic robots have played a key role in a number of movies.

Robot SurgeonWould you be comfortable and happy to consent to surgery with a robot performing it. Quite a lot of people have consented to this kind of surgery already. The advantages when it works well would be smaller incisions and a quicker healing time.

I must admit I am a bit unsure on this one! I can see advantages and also the risks. See what you think.

Would you like to own a robot that cleans the screens on your iPhone, iPad, tablets and other smart devices. Well now you can. At the Tokyo Gift Show (February, 2013), Takara Tomy introduced the AUTOMEE-S autonomous, with built-in edge detection sensors.

This small little robot operates completely automatically.

It is battery operated (a single AA battery which is not included strangely), around 70 mm in diameter, weighs just 82 grams and comes in four colours, orange, white, pink and blue. I am unsure of the UK price at the moment - it will be released sometime this year hopefully.
Some may think this is an unnecessary accessory, but I simply must have one.

LOOK NO HANDS - Robot Car UK set to rival Google's driverless-car projectThe search giant Google - and car manufacturers such as Audi, Toyota, GM, Ford, Mercedes and Volvo - has been experimenting with driverless-car technology since 2005, but Robot Car UK is the first tested in the UK.

We all know that robots can mow the lawn and work in the factory, amongst many other tasks.

But this has to be the next level in Robotics. Allow me to introduce the PR2 (Personal Robot). This bot has been programmed to learn on its own.

I bet you are thinking, how does it work - astonishingly the secret is that the bot finds out what it needs to know on the net, where it studies operating instructions and crawls web-based stores. Very impressive.

However, it would still be helpless without its programmers.

The current generation of robots has mastered specialised tasks quite well. But they fail at everyday tasks due to new situations - which they don't understand and are unsure how to react.

So I am afraid to say, homes are unlikely to have electronic butlers anytime soon, but such robots could be operational within the next 10 years.
Mind you, I dare not think of the costs involved in owning a personal robot.
Having said that - The PR2.. Please, BRING IT ON...

Personally when I hear the word robot, I immediately think of a toy robot.

However this is not the case, there are many example's of different types and kinds of robots.

We have all seen robots in the movies. In the beginning, robots were just metal scary things with flashing lighs and not to mention those strange noises and the sparks coming from the chest.

This was an attempt to make the robot look and sound scary (or did it make them just look funny - you decide).

These old robot toys that appeared in the movies along with vintage robots in general are now very collectable, infact old robot toys are highly desirable and demand high prices at auction, with collectors world-wide bidding.

Apparently one of the worlds most expensive toy robots is a member of the exclusive Masudaya Gang of Five.
These five mechanical toy robots were produced in Japan during the late 1950s/early 1960s and are regarded as some of the extremely sought after vintage toy robots in the world.

The most valuable of the five is Machine Man, of which around 10 to 15 examples only are known to exist (so keep a look out for one).

One of them was sold at auction in New York in 1997 for a record price of 74,000 dollers.

On a more serious note, robots have now become irreplaceable devices in our lives - doing jobs that are either to dangerous or inaccessible tasks that humans are unable to complete - such as in outer space or even at the bottom of the ocean where humans could not survive the extreme environments.

The robot has other roles also which include - Industrial, Military (Bomb diffusion & land mine detection, possibly 4,000 robots serving in the US Military at present), Factory, Research and not forgetting the Domestic robot.

The robot is guided by a program or circuitry, they don't have to look or act like a human (but more and more modern advanced
robots do look more human like).

The robot has to be flexible so they can perform different tasks, they do not get bored or tired by repetition and they cannot be distracted from the task at hand. Also they dont throw a sickie...

ROBOTICSThe branch of technology that deals with robots is called robotics and this field is advancing pretty fast.

Modern robots do have a very advanced sensory systems that process information and appear to function as if they have a brain.

Their "brain" is actually a form of computerized artificial intelligence, also known as (AI).
This allows the robot to perceive conditions and decide upon a course of action based on those conditions. Very clever

Over the last three decades Car factories have become dominated by robots.

A typical factory contains hundreds of industrial robots working on fully automated production lines, infact there is at least one robot for every ten humans working.

On an automated production line, a vehicle chassis on a conveyor is welded, glued, painted and finally assembled at a sequence of robot stations.

Lego Robot A pack of scouts from Boreatton, Shropshire built a robot using a Raspberry Pi and Lego, then entered it into the Lego League Open Robot Championship in Germany. I wonder how they got on.

The Word Robot was invented in the 20th century. Czechoslovakian word robota or robotnik meaning slave, servant or forced labor. Robots don't have to look or indeed act like humans but they do need to be flexible so they can perform different tasks.

Wakamaru A Japanese domestic robot made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Intended to provide companionship in the home. It could also be hired out to implement receptionist work.

I think every home should have one.

Androids Robots that try to look like humans are called androids.

Bots NecessaryAccording to a new EU survey over two-thirds of EU citizens (around 70 per cent) – have a positive view of robots.
They believe benefits of robots are most suited for search and rescue, space exploration and manufacturing, amongst other things.

Can Mind-Reading Robots Help Students Pay Attention?

As the Children go back to the classrooms will robots help play a vital role in learning and concentrating in our schools and colleges - read on and see what you think...

"Even the best teachers have moments where their students start to lose focus in class. But what if they had a robot that could help them keep kids engaged? It sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie but according to New Scientist, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have created a robot teacher that can regain the attention of even the most daydream-prone student.

The researchers hooked a test group of students up to sensors that monitor the brain's learning and concentration area and had them listen to a story being read by a humanoid robot teacher. When the sensors indicated that the student's was beginning to lapse, the robot did what savvy human educators do to regain it changed the tone of it's voice and used communicative gestures.

Since their minds weren't allowed to wander, the researchers found that students who worked with the teacher robot were better able to recall the details of the story than the groups of students who were read a story without any robot cueing or with inconsistent cueing.

Beginning teachers who are still learning their craft might not mind having the extra help a robot could provide.
But, since most real-life classroom educators don't need a robot to keep their students engaged, the researchers hope that their discovery can help the growing numbers of online learners.

Indeed, even the best of a growing number of virtual learning resources like edX or TED-Ed might have users with wandering minds. How exactly the robot's artificial intelligence abilities will integrate with those sort of learning platforms without hooking every virtual student up to some sort of sensor remains to be seen. But if computer scientists and AI experts can make it happen, down the road, some sort of robot teacher could be a boon for online learners."

Article from http://www.good.is/posts/can-mind-reading-robots-help-students-pay-attention

I have also discovered that students learn faster when learning from robots that make mistakes.
According to a study, simple humanoid robots teach English by drawing shapes and translating their meaning. The experimental study found that just under 20 children, between the ages of 4 and 8, learned best when a toy robot didn’t always make the correct translation.

I dont think it will be too long in the future before robots play a part in our classrooms, for all ages.

RoboSapien robot is fully programmable and reacts to both touch and sound signals from the environment performing more than 10,000 human movements.

Its feisty, moody and filled with personality - designed by Mark Tilden and produced by WowWee toys.

Capable of a walking motion without wheels within its feet. Robosapien can perform a programmed chain of commands in any combination of moves that you select. He can dance, walk, turn left and give you a high five, but beware he can also perform three different karate moves.

Yawning, whistling, burping and other noises are all part of this humanoid - I want one....

Runaround a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. The story is famous for featuring the first explicit appearance of the Three Laws of Robotics. Written in October 1941 and first published in March 1942.

The Three laws of robotics are:

A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

Enjoy these great robot videos which show some very cool robotic moves.